Chris Avellone's Blog

I think we all need some more Planescape in our lives.

Something very much like Planescape: Torment. Maybe not a direct sequel but someting in the footsteps of Planescape: Torment. We don't need fancy 3D graphics, the graphics are fine as they were in Planescape: Torment. I would give my soul and my firstborn for a game like Planescape: Torment.

Anything that goes back to those glory days of RPGs like Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate II would be amazing.

 

I would support something like that in a second.

I would like a true old-school rpg, with the depth of Fallout 1 & 2, full of stat and skill checks and which allowed players to solve mission and proceed in the game in many different ways.

Also, I would like something new and original rather than a direct sequel (a spiritual successor to something is still good, though), but I fully trust Obsidian, especially if they do a project like this and so their creativity is not limited by a publisher (just as LucasArts did with KotOR II forcing them to release the game earlier than it should, and that's just one of many examples).

I'd like to see a near future rpg. With a very branching story and true multiple endings

 

Basically I envision a Blade Runner type backdrop.

 

For the character I envision a character who's goal is to effect some sort of crime or injustice to society for his own personal reasons. Not at all the "hero icon", a character of the times not scared to walk in the grey to get what they want.

 

The focus should be branching story something like Alpha Protocol just more focus on branching story with multiple endings also a single game with no cliff hanger endings. If there were to be plans for a sequel use a new character and tell a different story in the same theme.

 

Branching story and multiple endings should be the main focus.

 

But not the type of branching and multiple endings most games have where on the last mission you get the option to press a button or not press it. I mean branching like at certain points in the game you would be asked to make choices that decide what branch you move too. With at least three main choices leading to three main end branches and each of those three main end branches should have a success or failure option. So basically you could win the game on the good path failure or success endings, nuetral path with fail or success endings or dark path with fail or sucess endings. And the branches would be wildly different such that the zones and missions would be completely different. With at least three main choices leading to three main end branches.

 

I understand that in one play though one player might only see a third of the game. But that's the point exactly and it's what no one has done before. I would like to see you aim for lets say a 20-40 hour game but in any single play though one player would only see 8-15 hours of the created content.

 

Ideally the endings would be so varied that you would hardly be able to tell that the character at the different endings was the same character the game started with.

 

Well thats my ideal game. Branching story and character/personality development.

I would like to see a game like Arcanum, a sequel possibly, or a re-imagined first person release, something like with Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I would too like that since this would be a community-funded effort, if Obsidian released the engine and tools they used in this game as open source later on, or use open source tools during development, making this a truly community-driven game.

I don't necessarily want a direct sequel, I would like to see a game that incorporates some elements of Planescape: Torment, and some elements of the original Fallout games.

 

Specifically, I liked the character development and the style of the setting in PS:T

Both were good about allowing you to make choices that actually effect the outcome of the game

I liked the ending sequence of the Fallout games, describing what happened afterward in each area as a result of your actions

I also liked the way the Fallout games were structured with a relatively open world to explore, and the main quest could actually be accomplished very quickly if you knew exactly where to go, but there were optional quests that were indirectly related, and sometimes provided clues for the main quest.

 

I also like games where a variety of solutions emerge from the basic gameplay rather than being specifically scripted. As a simple example, having a plot critical item be potentially pickpocketable (or otherwise stealable) is very nice. I get a bit annoyed when a game forces you to kill the "boss" enemy to get an item, just because the designers want every player to fight that fight.

 

I liked the way Fallout had many "enemies" who were not immediately hostile, but only became hostile when the player initiated conflict (either just for the hell of it, or because there was a plot related reason to do so), and that there were often alternative ways of dealing with the situation (stealth, persuasion, or simply paying them off for whatever you wanted)

 

Also, DRM-free, please, and make a Linux version (or at least Wine compatible).

 

I would definintely contribute to such a game (as I did for Double Fine) on Kickstarter.

 

-Kasoroth

Since I still call Torment my favourite game of all times, I'd love something in that direction. I wouldn't take up the story of the Nameless One again, because as sad as that makes me, I feel it is complete already. A game with a similar feeling, and if possible with the Planescape setting, would be brilliant.

 

In my opinion, don't be afraid to

 

- be text-heavy. I still love all the reading in Torment.

- not have the characters speak every word of dialogue. I'm not a big fan of what Mass Effect has done to conversation systems.

 

Concerning the setting and roleplaying system, I don't know if it makes a difference when game licenses are concerned, but for me, the true planescape setting is still the one from D&D 2e. Third edition kinda screws it up.

Personally, I don't think it necessarily needs to be a D&D game - just use whatever works.

 

To sum up: Please give us Planescape. A world where faith can literally move mountains and anything is possible - lots of complexity for developers, but also lots of freedom. What's not to like?

 

All right then, who do I throw my money at?

Planescape: Torment is the best game I've ever played. It's been over 10 years and it's still one of it's kind. I'd pay thousands to see a 2d isometric text-heavy rpg in Planescape setting or an original IP with a very surreal/weird twist.

 

The list of things I'd like to see:

 

- Isometric 2D (I love the artwork of Infinity era games)

- A setting with a surreal twist

- Lots of text and dialogue (no need for voice acting)

- Choice and consequences

- Hard decisions (you have to choose the better one of two bad alternatives, for example killing a character from the party)

- Different joinable factions

- Party with well written characters

- Intelligence affects the dialogue (Fallout 1 and 2 had some hilarious dialogues when int 1!)

- Lots of skill checks (adds replayability)

- Impossible to max all stats (forces you to play different ways)

- Quests with character class/skill/race/faction requirements

- Different ways to finish quests

- No useless skills

- Different endings

- Open world to explore (something like fallout 1 and 2, but with more small locations)

 

 

Whatever you do, please do not make a bland cliche-filled fantasy rpg. We have already seen too many of them. If it has to be an original IP, I'd like to see something like Planescape, a surreal/weird setting where the developers can use lots of imagination.

I will say again that there are a number of problems with Infinity engine games. I just want to get this out there as often as possible.

 

1.) Licenses are expensive. If you want to use 90% of their funding up in one go, with next to no money left over for the actual game, then yes, let's get them to make a Planescape sequel. Really, what they want is an obscure license that's not related to videogames, or for an original IP.

 

2.) Isometric games might be a nerd aphrodisiac, but they also cut out a lot of people. For example, if Obsidian wanted to move to platforms other than the PC (such as mobile devices or consoles), then they can't. Mobile devices and consoles don't have the means to control something as gruesomely overcomplicated as an isometric game.

 

3.) Quantity over quality is a bad thing. New Vegas was popular because it had great dialogue, not because it had lots of it. If quantity was more important than quality, then we could take the content of the Twilight series of books, dump them into an RPG Maker game, and it would have to be the greatest game ever.

 

I'm sorry to say it but Planescape: Torment is looking dated, these days, and its dialogue/story was fairly pants when compared to later Obsidian epics like Mask of the Betrayer. (Mask also concentrated on quality over quantity.) 'Epics' aren't always 'epic,' or even good. I know from recent play-throughs that Planescape: Torment does not stand up to modern scrutiny. It's just nostalgia talking. ...or the words of those who've somehow missed decades fo videogame evolution.

 

4.) Giant walls of text and no voice acting cuts people out on an accessibility basis which also cuts down on the amount of people who could or would want to play it. If you had reasonable amounts of voiced (even by amateurs) good dialogue, or pages upon pages of decidedly average dialogue, the former is better for reasons I discussed above. But not only that, those pages of average dialogue would put paid to anyone with sight problems playing the game.

 

Having loads of text and no voice acting is a big "SCREW YOU GUYS!" to anyone who has disabilities or handicaps. I know, I know, this plays up to the PC Master Race idea. But really, let's not. Please? Let's not.

 

Conclusion: If Obsidian were to concentrate on an isometric, 2D game then they'd only be able to release it for the PC and only beardy nerds would really be interested. What we have here is a vocal minority, and this vocal minority would see Obsidian shoot itself in the foot. If Obsidian were to listen to this vocal minority, I frankly doubt they'd raise more than a few thousand dollars in a month, and nowhere near the millions that DoubleFine is raking in.

 

By rooting ourselves in the past, we're killing accessibility and portability. And thus we're teaching Obsidian that being tied into publishers is the only way to actually sustainably create games. They need to pitch something that will at least be accessible to the largest amount of people. And how do you do accessibility? Don't screw over people on other devices, and don't screw over handicapped people.

 

If they want this to reach DoubleFine levels of success, then the LAST thing they need to create is a 2D, isometric RPG. That's like begging the Reaper to come and steal the soul of your project before it's even begun.

In fact, I won't bother talking to the people in the thread, I'll just say this one last time, and to Obsidian:

 

Please don't play up to the PC Master Race. I mean, for the love of all that's good, just don't. Please? If you do that, you're cutting out most of the people who would put money down on this.

 

You're cutting out other platforms, you're cutting out people who don't want to spend 60 hours learning needlessly obfuscated game mechanics, you're cutting out disabled people, and most importantly - you're cutting out what you're good at.

 

I'm asking you to do what you're good at.

 

Were you ever really good at walls of text, and number fetishism? I don't think so. Those were always the worst parts of your games. People hated on Neverwinter Nights 2 for not being as number fetishist as NWN, or not being as reliant on stats. Those things were never your strengths.

 

Your strengths are:

 

- Interesting ideas.

- Strong, compelling, believable, and genuinely emotional storylines.

- Gripping narrative.

- Truly bringing characters to life.

- Proper, non-illusory choices, with actual consequences.

- Anticipating what the player might try in a very interactive environment.

- Showing us a world that's real, through artistic talent, not detaching us via walls of text. (And this isometric/wall of text stuff really is a kick in the nuts to your art team.)

- Allowing us to live a character, the way we want to.

- Some of the most immersive gaming experiences I've seen.

 

You've gone from strength to strength. And New Vegas was your perigee. You flew so high. I'm not sure if you can fly higher. Can you? I don't know. But I'd love to see you realise your potential even further. But by being tied down by ****ty 2D representations, walls of text, number fetishism, and other, ancient, nerd-laden elements... what makes your games so amazing, what makes New Vegas so amazing, is easily forgotten.

 

Your art guys are just as important as your writing chaps, and really, whilst some people might love those unending walls of text that cut into the quality of the dialogue in bad ways, I prefer seeing what your art team can show me.

 

I want to see you at your highest, at your best.

 

That's what I want.

 

---

 

In fact, I'd go further than that. I'd say: You're writers and artists, you're not number-fetishists, it's not what you do. That's what Bioware does. So don't even bother with the numbers at all! Go with a story-driven game where the stastics involved are either incredibly light, or just not present at all. Stats, number juggling, inventories, these were never what made Obsidian games great. They just got in the way.

 

I'd love to see what you could do unencumbered. Just a tale of adventure, perhaps with an interesting inventory system which isn't like past RPGs, innovate a bit, and if you think you can get away with it, just throw stats out the window! No STR, no DEX, no stats at all! Just eschew that in favour of concentrating on the writing and the art, make this an interactive experience to remember, concentrate on the world, the story, the people, and the choices. Get gameplay in there, but like I said, stay away from the numbers and the walls of text.

 

That's what I think would really push things forward and cause a paradigm shift, anyway.

There are lots of great ideas in this blog.

 

One of the things I've always missed in Fallout was the chance to play as a mutant, but unfortunately being dipped in the FEV vats was part of a death screen.. I imagine what it would be like to be that mutant.. How would it affect me, what would my choices be, would my past life have a side-effect, would I even be able to remmeber.. Would I join the masters army or wander off into the wasteland and if I did, then what?

 

In most games you are always the 'hero' or 'saviour', there is always a bigger evil making your attempts of being evil too a bit silly somehow, but what if you were the evil monster. A lonely and scared scary monster.. Maybe you know that you are the monster or you are just realizing it slowly by the scared responses..

 

Being a big and scary monster would probably limit your choices quite a bit as to the ways you can play, but if you were something like a doppelganger or a 'body snatcher' you'd have to blend in, study and impersonate your victims.. You'd get around a lot of different dialogue and challenges during your impersonation.. I wonder would a doppelganger inherit any of the features of the victim.. Would probably be a bit difficult to make friends if you switch character too often.. Should you fess up or keep pretending? What about romance, would that be possible.. Maybe it would be a trick to get close enough to switch, but what if you got involved and had to make a hard choice..

 

Maybe you don't have to kill anyone or maybe you do.

If they want this to reach DoubleFine levels of success, then the LAST thing they need to create is a 2D, isometric RPG. That's like begging the Reaper to come and steal the soul of your project before it's even begun.

 

I think you lost the context completely. Double Fine started the Kickstarter exactly on the premise of creating a game that only "breaded nerds" as you say would want. There's no need for a Kickstarter to make an up to date game that everyone agrees has a big market. What it's needed for it to make a game that doesn't fit the current market but for which there are a lot of fans. An overhead turn based RPG is exactly like a 2D point and click adventure, a powerful nostalgia trip for older gamers who don't want all that newfangled first person 3D stuff.

Do us all a favor and ignore Wulf. Please.

Do us all a favor and ignore Wulf. Please.

 

Sorry. I'm new here. I guess he's on everyone's ignore list.

I will say again that there are a number of problems with Infinity engine games. I just want to get this out there as often as possible.1.) Licenses are expensive. If you want to use 90% of their funding up in one go, with next to no money left over for the actual game, then yes, let's get them to make a Planescape sequel. Really, what they want is an obscure license that's not related to videogames, or for an original IP.

Completely wrong. People are asking for a spiritual successor to Planescape, not necessarily a sequel. That would be nice, but everyone knows it's unlikely to happen.

 

2.) Isometric games might be a nerd aphrodisiac, but they also cut out a lot of people. For example, if Obsidian wanted to move to platforms other than the PC (such as mobile devices or consoles), then they can't. Mobile devices and consoles don't have the means to control something as gruesomely overcomplicated as an isometric game.

To put it another way, what you're arguing for is yet another game that's been lobotomised to fit consoles and handhelds. The thing is, there's plenty of people cranking out those games. Hardly anyone is producing good party-based RPGs, and there's a real demand for those even without AAA production values.

 

3.) Quantity over quality is a bad thing. New Vegas was popular because it had great dialogue, not because it had lots of it. If quantity was more important than quality, then we could take the content of the Twilight series of books, dump them into an RPG Maker game, and it would have to be the greatest game ever.I'm sorry to say it but Planescape: Torment is looking dated, these days, and its dialogue/story was fairly pants when compared to later Obsidian epics like Mask of the Betrayer. (Mask also concentrated on quality over quantity.) 'Epics' aren't always 'epic,' or even good. I know from recent play-throughs that Planescape: Torment does not stand up to modern scrutiny. It's just nostalgia talking. ...or the words of those who've somehow missed decades fo videogame evolution.

I didn't finish Torment until 2007. The first time through, I thought I'd hit a bug that made my game unfinishable, and gave up. When I picked it up again years later, I liked it just as much as the first time through... And it wasn't a bug, I'd just misread something.

 

Anyway, whatever. You have your console and handheld games. Those are everywhere. Some people would like a good, solid, party-based RPGs. If you don't, you don't.

 

4.) Giant walls of text and no voice acting cuts people out on an accessibility basis which also cuts down on the amount of people who could or would want to play it. If you had reasonable amounts of voiced (even by amateurs) good dialogue, or pages upon pages of decidedly average dialogue, the former is better for reasons I discussed above. But not only that, those pages of average dialogue would put paid to anyone with sight problems playing the game.Having loads of text and no voice acting is a big "SCREW YOU GUYS!" to anyone who has disabilities or handicaps. I know, I know, this plays up to the PC Master Race idea.

You might want to reconsider what allusions you cast about if you ever plan to leave your parents' basement.

 

But really, let's not. Please? Let's not.Conclusion: If Obsidian were to concentrate on an isometric, 2D game then they'd only be able to release it for the PC and only beardy nerds would really be interested.

Perhaps. But there are a lot of them, and they make good money, and they're prepared to spend it. So why not produce the game they want?

 

What we have here is a vocal minority, and this vocal minority would see Obsidian shoot itself in the foot. If Obsidian were to listen to this vocal minority, I frankly doubt they'd raise more than a few thousand dollars in a month, and nowhere near the millions that DoubleFine is raking in.

Order of the Stick, a stick-figure comic about Dungeons and Dragons - can't get much nerdier than that - raised $1.25 million. Now, they handled it brilliantly, but it's just a comic. A new game along the lines of Baldur's Gate or Torment... There's a lot of people who want that.

 

A few thousand dollars in a month? Are you kidding? There are individual people out there who will put up a few thousand dollars by themselves. I'd certainly put up a few hundred if there was a nice reward level available.

 

By rooting ourselves in the past, we're killing accessibility and portability.

Some games cannot be played on every platform. That's fine. That's a good thing.

 

As for accessibility, that's a worthwhile consideration, but relatively easily handled. Text that isn't fully voiced can be made available through a screen-reader program.

 

And thus we're teaching Obsidian that being tied into publishers is the only way to actually sustainably create games. They need to pitch something that will at least be accessible to the largest amount of people.

No. No. Completely wrong. That's precisely the type of game that gets published by the big existing publishers. What Obsidian need to do make this work is find a niche that isn't getting served well by the current system, and it so happens that their expertise overlaps such a niche perfectly.

 

And how do you do accessibility? Don't screw over people on other devices, and don't screw over handicapped people.

As noted, other devices can take a running jump. An old-school RPG can be made accessible to handicapped people to a large degree without abandoning the concept - which is NOT true for the average console release.

 

If they want this to reach DoubleFine levels of success, then the LAST thing they need to create is a 2D, isometric RPG. That's like begging the Reaper to come and steal the soul of your project before it's even begun.

Except, your protestations aside, that is what everyone is asking for.

PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLANESCAPE TORMENT 2 PLZ OHH PLZ OHH PLZ OHH PLZ OHH PLZ OHH PLEAASSE!!!!! :'(

 

So if we can still impose you with our ramblings, another thing I would like in a game are advanced gameplay options, allowing you to customize the game to some extent. Like for example choosing to get max possible HP per level (instead of the fraction my attributes determine), hiding certain info (like if there's an influence system, you get told "influence lost with this or that NPC", or even worse "12 influence points lost with NPC". I don't want to know that, though in many cases I should be able to predict they won't like something based on their personality or guess they didn't based on their response). I find these tweakings can be very important, specially if the game has replay value: maybe next time I want to make things easier (getting max HP per level) or harder (leveling requires 10% more XP), or know exactly how many "influence points" are gained/lost in each conversation. Or essentially, instead of having FO:NV's "harcore mode", letting me choose whether I want to have H2O and/or SLEEP and/or FOOD and/or whatever activated/deactivated separately. These are mostly on/off switches which I'm pretty sure can be easily coded into and don't detract from the mechanics, gameplay or the developer's vision and fine-tuning.

 

And I don't care if I "break" the game. If I push some values too far or activated so many switches that I end up with the equivalent of "nightmare mode", that's my problem, in the same way customizing advanced video setting is my problem when my hardware can't take it.

 

Crossing my fingers for a "Cain-Avellone-Sawyer" RPG Designing Triumvirate of Awesome. Thanks and good night.

What sort of game would I like obsidian to tackle?

 

A starflight 2 like game where you command a crew (sort of like FTL) except with isometric rpg elements and perspective(like infinity engine) scattered in there. i.e. The crew go around repairing the ship when under attacks, the defence and attack elements depend on your command skills. Your character and the crew go on away missions and do rpg like exploration and quests. You can upgrade and acquire your space ship. Would be cool if built around a linear plot with branching sub-quests that help your crew gain ranks and develop there characters.

 

Alternatively would be quite happy with a baldurs gate like game.

Personally, I'd like a new fantasy based ip and I'd surely support it. I might support other games aswell ...

Out of curiosity, if Obsidian did Kickstart a project, what would you want to see funded? (You can respond in comments or to @ChrisAvellone on Twitter, whichever you prefer.)

Only one? I would hope for several over time (not just RPGs either).

 

Something I would love ~Love! (and buy ) would be a modern take (or even for budget sake, just remake) of "Die By the Sword"; using a modern engine and a more advanced method of control. Die By The Sword was a decade ahead of it's time, and now it's a decade later and there isn't (and hasn't been) anything like it since. If you knew how to play it puts Fallout 3, Oblivion, and FO:NV's melee combat to tear causing shame ~But (admittedly) if you did not know how to play all it caused you was tears and misery.

This game was full 3D in 1998 and allowed full dismemberment and or decapitation causing instant death. It had visible area wounding wherever you hit the opponent; and the weapons were under full player control, and that meant that in order to parry or block, you had to manually manage it by actually blocking with the shield or weapon, and your hits were measured for impact force ~separating the scratches from the critical hits. The game even shipped with a move-editor studio app, that allowed players to record custom attacks and defense animation ~then hot-key them later in the game.

 

 

There is a hack out right now that lets you control DBtS with a Wii controller and its really cool.

 

I'd pay equal to what I did for Skyrim, just for a good clone of Die By the Sword; but a new game based on its concepts and general gameplay would be fantastic.

**********************

 

I would also (personally) like a modern successor to Tachyon's ancient title

.

Just modern 3d art and AI would be enough; for what was effectively (in the later stages) an RTS that let you make your PC and command an army; while narrating your character's conquering of the world.

 

But of course I wouldn't expect (or necessarily prefer) an exact 1:1 clone of the original, just a really cool successor with a very similar feel to it.... but hey, that

video really gets the imagination working.

 

For example, From

derived from

; but even a Populous 3 remade to match the original opening intro would astound.

Van Buren!!!!!!!

Obsidian should definitely do a new Planescape Torment but I mean the scenario with new graphics and a new style of storytelling. Today people don

If you decide to dp something unusual then a space game in the style of Freelancer (with a good story) would be nice, or a superhero comic style RPG similar to Irrational Games Freedom Force would also be cool

An RPG set in a not-so-fantasy kingdom (George RR Martin style, with les magic) where the PC is a minor member of a royal family and ends up embroiled in politics to the point where s/he is one of the last remaining members of the Royals and must retake the throne.